AT THE beginning of next month, the NUJ with the Society of Editors will launch The Journalists’ Safety Toolkit. It is an app that provides regularly updated information for reporters and photographers who feel themselves in danger.

Delighted as I am to provide such a resource for our members, the need for it is the cause of the deepest concern.

The working assumption of the labour movement for the past half-century has been that work is becoming progressively safer — and it is trade unions who have led on that work and deserve much of the credit for advances made. 

For journalists, however, recent years have seen fresh and ugly dangers crowd into their workspaces and lives. 

An emblematic case is that of BBC Newsnight’s Nick Watt being chased around Downing Street by a baying mob — four of whom were subsequently found guilty of intent to cause harassment but avoided jail.

Of course, the physical risks faced by journalists create headlines. When NUJ member Dom Phillips was murdered in Brazil, there were headlines worldwide. 

There were too when Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces in Palestine. NUJ members were already backing action against the clear and systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists. 

Abu Akleh’s case has now been added to several others that are the subject of an NUJ-backed submission to the International Criminal Court.

It’s why the NUJ will be marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on November 2, standing with our colleagues around the globe to demand justice for journalists worldwide who pay with their lives, the ultimate price for simply doing their jobs. 

Journalists also face routine and insidious threats that can be debilitating, if less deadly. Social media pile-ons, trolling and doxing are widespread, and target women and journalists from minority backgrounds disproportionally. 

Research carried out by the NUJ in 2020 found that more than half the journalists surveyed had experienced online harassment in the preceding year.

Whether hostility has been prompted by war or governments, the safety of journalists and their ability to carry out work is threatened daily. 

We’re also seeing anecdotal evidence in recent months that incidents of abuse and harassment are on the increase again. 

Far and wide, journalists reporting on wrongdoing including corruption and on environmental issues, place their lives in the line of danger. 

Every attack brings with it an individual, human cost, but the broader damage to a free media is no less disturbing.

Whether our new Prime Minister survives long enough to pursue a domestic agenda, remains to be seen. There is plenty in the Tories’ pending tray, however, that give cause for concern.

The National Security Bill, for example, risks NUJ members being treated in the same way as spies and stands to criminalise them for exposing government wrongdoing or reporting information in the public interest. 

Harmful changes in the Bill introduced in committee appear intended to protect those in power, with broad and vague terms likely to instil fear into those committing no crime. 

And that is by no means the only threat. Julian Assange’s prosecution creates similar risks. Whatever one’s opinion of the WikiLeaks founder, it is clear that the charges he faces describe the actions of any journalist who has contacts with a whistleblower. If he is convicted, any journalist in receipt of classified documents will be at risk.

The NUJ remains vigilant and committed to ensuring legislative proposals that could threaten freedom of expression are appropriately challenged. 

But I also remind government that without a free press, democracy dies. The efficiency with which the government safeguards an unfettered media is a cornerstone of its own legitimacy.  

Happily, at least sometimes they listen. For years the NUJ has argued that greater protection is required from oligarchs and the like who abuse legislation and process to silence and bully journalists. That government action is now promised is testimony to the campaigning tenacity of NUJ members.

Our work opposing the Bill of Rights — presented under the guise of increased protection — was widely echoed by campaigning groups. 

We are under no illusion of the damaging impact proposals will have, especially through new proposals that would mean astronomical legal bills and tougher processes if the union must take more cases defending journalists to the European Court of Human Rights. 

The Online Safety Bill is another cause for concern, particularly in respect of the protection of journalists’ sources. Under proposals in the Bill, technology platforms including the likes of Meta may be forced to hand over private messages between journalists and their sources. 

The potential for such an attack on free expression has left NUJ members angered and in disbelief at the need for constant legislative firefighting. But make no mistake, when the necessity to fight for members arises, the NUJ will be there, as we were when former MP Chris Mullin successfully fought West Midlands Police’s attempt to force him to disclose his sources.

For the sake of free expression, I am happy to say that ours in a resurgent union. After months of stalled pay talks, NUJ members at Reach (publishers of the Mirror, Express and many regional titles across the UK) took strike action this summer. 

More than 400 new members joined the union during our campaign, and after striking, won increases of between 14 and 44 per cent for some journalists. 

Much more needs to be done, however, to tackle pay stagnation and create pay progression that is transparent and properly rewards journalists who create the content that the company’s viability hinges on. 

A stronger industrial base following the biggest newspaper strike for decades has rejuvenated our organisation at Reach and means our members are geared up to taking forward that critical work in the coming weeks and months.

They and our many other new recruits to the NUJ form the next generation who will work together to keep journalists safe, improve their working conditions and champion press freedom.